Gave one months notice. Landlord is keeping deposit. She's just angry. No damage.

JackieChang

My girlfriend gave a months notice to her landlord today that she's moving out.

The landlord said she's keeping the deposit. Why? Because apparently the landlord had the room free for a few weeks while waiting for my girlfriend to move in originally. Before moving in my girlfriend said "I'll be available to move in on XYZ date" and the landlord said "OK that's great."

Now the landlord is saying she's keeping the deposit due to that few weeks and the income she could have made if she rented it out. Kind of seems like revenge. I wasn't aware that deposits could be used like this.

I thought they were only for damage of property. Or if the rent wasn't paid (my girlfriend JUST paid €500 f%$ yoyos rent yesterday for the month ahead).

The deposit is a lot of money for her. She's working part time at a restaurant while studying in college, and could get fired at any second due to covid. Just seems like a really shytty thing to do.

Note: my girlfriend lives with a "live in" landlord. I've heard the rules are different. Also.. no contract was signed. She may be screwed?

Graham

Next stop small claims court.

ted1

What date did her lease start ? Is that the date she moved in?
Has her lease expired or is she breaking her lease ?
How long has she been there ?

Is she living with the landlady ? If so she is a licencee snd has no notice period. And as before must go through SCC for deposit issues

JackieChang

ted1 wrote: »

What date did her lease start ? Is that the date she moved in?
Has her lease expired or is she breaking her lease ?
How long has she been there ?

Is she living with the landlady ? If so she is a licencee snd has no notice period. And as before must go through SCC for deposit issues

There is no contract so I guess no lease. She just said "I'll move in on xyz date" and the landlord said "ok".

Yesterday she said "I'm moving out in one month" and the landlord said "ok I'm keeping your deposit".

The landlord is simply annoyed because she missed out on rent waiting for my girlfriend to move in.

She has been there 3 months.

It’s a bit late for the LL to be complaining now about a delay in moving in/rental start date. That is something that should have been discussed when agreement was reached to move in.

Your girlfriend just needs to inform her landlord that she will soon be spending €25 to initiate a Small Claims Court case, and that the LL can explain to a judge why she isn’t returning the deposit.

https://www.courts.ie/small-claims-procedure

ted1

JackieChang wrote: »

There is no contract so I guess no lease. She just said "I'll move in on xyz date" and the landlord said "ok".

Yesterday she said "I'm moving out in one month" and the landlord said "ok I'm keeping your deposit".

The landlord is simply annoyed because she missed out on rent waiting for my girlfriend to move in.

She has been there 3 months.

Is she living with her?
If not what length lease was advertised?

JackieChang

ted1 wrote: »

Is she living with her?
If not what length lease was advertised?

Yes the landlord is renting a room in her own house. My girlfriend was living with her.

I'm not sure about length of lease. Will ask the missus. But there's no contract.

Does it matter? Let's say the lease was 6 months or 1 year or 2 years. Does that complicate things?

Gumbo

JackieChang wrote: »

Yes the landlord is renting a room in her own house. My girlfriend was living with her.

I'm not sure about length of lease. Will ask the missus. But there's no contract.

Does it matter? Let's say the lease was 6 months or 1 year or 2 years. Does that complicate things?

She was a license.
There is no lease and no legal right to one. She can pack her bags and go in an hour if she so wanted. But in the flip side, the home owner can also give you 24 hours notice.

ted1

JackieChang wrote: »

Yes the landlord is renting a room in her own house. My girlfriend was living with her.

I'm not sure about length of lease. Will ask the missus. But there's no contract.

Does it matter? Let's say the lease was 6 months or 1 year or 2 years. Does that complicate things?

She’s a licencee so no notice period required. Small claims court is your recourse

lainey_d_123

She's talking absolute sh1te. What a terrible person...saying 'that's grand' to your girlfriend saying she can move in x date means it's grand. It doesn't mean she can later keep her deposit because of that. Absolute idiot.

TheChizler

Graham wrote: »

Next stop small claims court.

Hopefully the threat of it is enough.

Tell her to start gathering evidence OP, texts, emails, any communication should be recorded from now on.

JackieChang

TheChizler wrote: »

Hopefully the threat of it is enough.

Tell her to start gathering evidence OP, texts, emails, any communication should be recorded from now on.

Yep I've told her to email the landlord asking for the deposit again so she has a response in writing. Because as of now it was just a conversation in the kitchen: Hi I'm moving out in 30 days. Ok I'm keeping your deposit.

Graces7

JackieChang wrote: »

Yep I've told her to email the landlord asking for the deposit again so she has a response in writing. Because as of now it was just a conversation in the kitchen: Hi I'm moving out in 30 days. Ok I'm keeping your deposit.

OH very business like! Yes get it in writing,

JackieChang

Ok thanks for the help folks. Just an email in writing was enough to make the landlord change her mind and at least think about giving it back. It also gave my girlfriend a massive boost in confidence when I showed her all the messages here. My girlfriend was literally going to just let her keep the deposit. She felt like poop originally because she didn't know the rules here at all so was like "oh well, hundreds of euros down the toilet. At least I'm still alive".

There was no need to even mention threshold or small claims. Just an email in writing asking for it back. Basically saying "I understand it's inconvenient that I'm moving out but I've given you a month's notice and there is no damage so it's unfair to keep my security deposit. Please give it back"

The landlord hasn't said yes exactly.

She replied: "I will check the room at the end of the tenancy and I will transfer the deposit if deemed up to standard. "

So... my girlfriend is moving out tomorrow. The end of tenancy referred to above is 8th November. I've told my girlfriend to take photos of everything just in case something accidentally breaks after she moves out.

Now if the landlord comes back and says something is broken, how can she prepare herself? (other than taking a photo of every inch of the house?)

I have a feeling the landlord has already spent the money hence the long delay in returning it.

Graham

JackieChang wrote: »

She replied: "I will check the room at the end of the tenancy and I will transfer the deposit if deemed up to standard. "

So... my girlfriend is moving out tomorrow. The end of tenancy referred to above is 8th November. I've told my girlfriend to take photos of everything just in case something accidentally breaks after she moves out.

Reply

thanks, I was concerned this would end up in the small claims court. I appreciate you being reasonable.

We'll do a walk around together when I've loaded everything into the car to make sure everything is in order before I leave.